A Strange Century
TIMELINE LOCATED HERE. The world in the 21st century will be strange. The future is full of bright and dark things that amaze us. 2013 *Hugo Chavez dies at the age of 58. He is embalmed forever in the capital city. *Kim Jong Un makes more threats to the US as sanctions rise. *The reign of Pope Francis begins. *On April 30, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands abdicates in favor of her son, Willem-Alexander. *Israel demands that Iran closes its nuclear program down immediately in front of the UN Security Council. Israel continues cyber warfare attacks and has assassins murder seven Iranian scientists over the year. *Apple launches a TV connected to the Internet called the iTV and causes major competition with Smart TV. *The Dow rises to above 15,000. President Obama rejoices that recovery is now picking up steam. *Angela Merkel is re-elected in a heated campaign. *Nanobots to deliver pain medicine begin being built by the NIH. *The One World Trade Center is completed in New York. Al Qaeda releases an ominous message. "Some fall once. Others fall twice." *Croatia joins the EU. *Baby George is born to Kate Middleton and Prince William. 2014 *North Korea launches missile at South Korea, and it misses its target of Seoul, instead hitting a fishing village and killing 145. South Korea declares war on the North and invades in Operation Unify. The United States backs South Korea by sending in 180,000 troops on May 15. *The United States Supreme Court rules in a controversial decision that gay marriage should be legal. Many states protest but gay marriage becomes completely legal in the United States. *Russian president Putin puts down a riot against his rule in Moscow. The rioters attack the legislative building a kill several legislators. Putin declares martial law. *Darfur is declared free of genocide. The final death toll is at 670,000 and the displacement number is at 3.5 million. *Fincaline, a drug to fight septic shock, is run through clinical trials in Japan. Septic shock, the cause of death for 18 million people a year, is beginning to become treatable. *In the 2014 midterms, the Democrats lose three senate seats, but still hold the majority with the two independents that caucus with them. Republicans gain twenty seats in the House. *The US grows at a modest 2.6% for the year. Janet Yellen becomes the first female chairman of the Federal Reserve. *Protests in Oman mark the last in the Arab Spring. Oman passes a new constitution which limits some powers of Sultan Qaboos without any violence. *The Sky City skyscraper is completed in China. The 2,749 foot tower, the tallest in the world, is completed in only four months. *The Steam Box launches in North America and Europe foor US $499, making Microsoft and Sony nervous. The Playstation 4 and Xbox One have weak sales as new technologies begin to replace them. 2015 *North Korea launches another missile strike that hits Inchon, South Korea. 1965 die in the deadly attack. and the US sends in 100000 more troops. *A shooting at a doctor's office in Richmond, Virginia, leaves 31 dead. It reignites the gun debate, and the liberals pass a law that requires heavier background checks before by any sort of gun. Ex-convicts are now not allowed to own semi-automatic or automatic weapons. *In China the economy only grows 6.4% in 2015. Many bubbles in the economy that were sustained by fast growth pop. A stimulus package is introduced and pumps money into the economically malnourished west of the country. *FDA testing for printer-grown organs begin. Trials run for the next several years on artificial pancreases, kidneys, hearts, and lungs that could be grown using the patient's own cells. *The NIH's nanobots are put on the market, and begin delivering insulin, chemotherapy, blood clotters, and other medicines, as well as monitoring things such as blood pressure, heart rate, blood glucose, and respiration rate. *Large 3-D printers begin producing things in high tech factories around the world. *The Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad is overthrown, and he escapes to Russia, ultimately to die at 65 from lung cancer in the Muscovich capital of St. Petersburg. The final toll of the Syrian Civil War is set at 355,467. *The US reports growth of 3.2% in 2015. *Stefani Germanotta, more commonly known as Lady Gaga, records an album on the Virgin Galatic, Richard Branson's commercial space flight company. Commercial spaceflight becomes a place for luxury and excess, with large orgies and much drug use on the flights. 2016 *Hilary Clinton and her running mate, Julian Castro, wins the US election against Marco Rubio, a Latino Republican senator from Florida, and his running mate Chris Christie. She wins with 397 electoral votes in a landslide victory. The US economy begins growing at a steady pace of 5% a year. *The Eurozone begins picking up steam again to with France reporting 3.6% growth and England reporting 3.9% growth. *Several privates space companies like SpaceX, New Frontier, and Marshall-V5 combine to form the new company, Sky-X-Jupiter. SXJ launches a probe to the moon that lands successfully called Athena. NASA reports that private companies are beginning to overtake government-run ones in space technology innovation. *President Clinton calls for the War of the Tiger to end before a nuke is launched in December. North Korea tries to launch a warhead to hit Seoul on December 30, but it explodes while launching. The 45,000 people forced to watch the launch for Kim Jong Un are all obliterated. North Korea surrenders the next day. *Europe gets 40% of its electricity from renewable power. 2017 *The Kingdom Tower is completed in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It is 3,281 ft tall (over 1000 m). When it is opened by the Crown Prince, a suicide bomber blows up in the crowd, killing 68. *President Clinton reinstates the Glass-Steagall Act which regulates businesses and banks to stop speculative bubbles. *The Korean War ends with the Treaty of Inchon. The War ends up costing 120,000 soldier and 1.1 million civilian deaths, mostly from bombings. Kim Jong Un is hanged for crimes against humanity and Korea is united. *SXJ begins design on planes that could go from the atmosphere to space easily and come back down. *A computer with the processing power of a human brain is completed in Germany. *The first baby that was genetically manipulated to be smarter, faster and stronger, called Designers by the media, is born to parents in Canada. His name is Josiah. In the next year 308 Designers are born around the world. *China's economy goes into downfall as the stimulus package is a failure. The 5 year plan did not work. The economy is still growing at a good 4.9% but it is far from the 14.9% experienced by Mongolia riding on a copper boom and the 20.2% growth from Macau, an offshore gambling haven for Chinese business men, as the autocrats of China thirst for money in more risky ways. Other booming economies include Iceland at 10.2%, Norway at 8.4%, Kenya at 10.1%, and Tanzania, Nigeria, and Uganda all growing at 10% even. *A massive hurricane hits Florida, and power stays out for one million people for eight weeks. People call on the government to address to infrastructure, but the rebuilding of a new Korea and stability in Saudi Arabia are top priority. *Russia's government is reformed with passing of new laws and the new police force to fight against the mob violence. Ultimately, Russia separates into the Communist Siberian People's Republic and a constitutional democracy called Muscovich after months of violent protests and the destruction of oil wells in Siberia by rebels. *Gas prices rise to US $5.25 a gallon. People race to the pumps to stock up on gas before the price becomes astronomically high. Many cities have riots as stations run out of gas. American, Japanese, and European automobile companies begin designing a new class of vehicles. *Angela Merkel wins the German chancellor election again and starts her fourth term. 2018 *China launches the Shenzhou 15, a manned mission to the moon with three astronauts. American think-tanks call it proof of the Pacific Century, one centered around China, and to a lesser extent, America, Japan, and Australia. In the western portions of China, general unrest is popular and an anarchist bombs Shanghai tower in December, killing 584. *Tony Abbot's promise to have a budget surplus within a decade is fulfilled in five years. Australia reports of budget surplus of 543 million US dollars. *The US midterms result in an overwhelming Democratic victory. The House is 68% Democratic, and the Senate is 66% Democratic. *The world's first Smart House is built, with a fully-integrated Internet of Things, allowing the fine-tuning of home life's smallest details and ushering in a new era of prosperity for the rich nations. *Twenty-four children with the ultra rare giant axonal neuropathy become the first successful recipients of gene therapy, injected through their spinal cords and curing the single-gene disorder. 2020 *Hilary Clinton is re-elected. The Democrats win the Senate with a majority of 68-28 Republicans with 4 Independents (Two Greens, a socialist, and a libertarian) caucusing with the Democrats. Hilary recognizes that spending cuts need to be made as Healthcare becomes 30% of our budget. The military budget goes down to 550 billion a year, loopholes are closed in taxes, income taxes for the rich go to 65%, while for the middle class they stay around 20%. Subsidies for oil, natural gas, and coal are cut. NASA is completely cut from the US budget as private companies launch more satellites than NASA does. The Federal War on Drugs is ended, and states are left to decide what to do about drugs, and in 14 states marijuana becomes legal. A massive infrastructure act called the Great American Railroad is said to add 800,000 jobs to the economy over 2021. It costs over 330 billion dollars. It passes through Congress easily and Clinton signs it on November 28, 2020. *SXJ starts planning a manned mission for Mars, set for 2026. *Mexico's economy becomes the world's tenth largest. *In China a rebel group called the Fighters for Freedom (FFF) begin a guerrilla campaign to end the tyranny of the government. Xinjiang province spirals into chaos as civil war breaks out. Xi Jinping, the general secretary, says he is too preoccupied with the eastern economic meltdown than the "Hun Hell" of west China. Tibet breaks away from China and the Dalai Lama leaves exile in India to come home. *Germany signs the St. Petersburg Friendship Treaty with Muscovich. Germany now supplies Muscovich with 10,000 top trained specialists, doctors, and scientists a year in exchange for a natural gas pipeline from Siberia to Strasbourg called the Muscovichian-German Super Pipeline. It is estimated to cost 5 billion dollars. In retaliation the US supplies Poland, the buffer state between Germany and Muscovich, with 800 former NASA scientists and a military base in Warsaw. Analysts say this was the beginning of the Second Cold War. *Mercedes launches a hydrogen fuel cell powered car called The Aqua. Five million Cars are sold in the first year. *Catalonia declares independence from Spain. The GDP of the Catalan nation easily surpasses Spain, and Spain appeals to the EU for economic help. *Around the world, 20,000 designers are born. Resented by the Western governments, many migrate to the Eastern nations of Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Korea. An economic boom reignites the Tiger economies. *Angela Merkel decides no to run again, citing health reasons. She was one of the most popular chancellors in German history, and helped keep the EU together during the meltdown of the euro. *King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands dies of a sudden heart attack on December 16. Princess Catharina-Amaila becomes the youngest Dutch monarch at the age of 17. In a vote, the people of the Netherlands decide that Queen Catharina will be the last monarch, and the Orange-Nassau dynasty will be over after she dies. After she died in 2110, the dynasty ended after 566 years of on and off rule. *3-D Printer Patents become a new trend in the US. Large companies such as Sony, Apple, Microsoft, or Google release printing blueprints for things such as the Playstation Four controller along with a supplies list to be printed once for a fee, after which the blueprint is deleted and must be purchased again for another one of the said product. This allowed people to stay at home instead of going out. 2022 *The 800,000 jobs promised by Clinton were shown to be more along the lines of 1.2 million, as subsidies to SXJ and other companies create a space mining boom that ignites the economy. *The average age of the American population becomes 42.5 as the last of the baby boomers cash in on retirement. Healthcare spending is at all time highs. *The FFF use chemical weapons granted by an unknown country (later determined to be Muscovich as the Siberian People's Republic relied on the Chinese government for aid) to bomb Shantou, Chengdu, Beijing, and Wenzhou. Hundreds of thousands die in the blast. *The Arctic becomes ice-free year round for the first time, leading to cuts in shipping times and discovery of oil in Arctic boom towns such as Atka, Kaskae and Akluitok. Thousands flock to the riches of the north. *The levees that protect Shanghai break, causing the city to flood. Xi Jingping says the FFF set up bombs to destroy the levees, but most likely the stress from the newly risen seas causes the break. The Chinese army sends an invasion force of 1.5 million into the western provinces. *SXJ reports profits in the excess of one trillion dollars, and they begin a massive project with the US and Mexican governments to build a giant flood wall to counteract the rising sea levels. Environmentalists cry that the wall disrupts migratory patterns of species and the countries of Haiti, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and other Caribbean states protest to be including, but only the Bahamas can pay the 8 billion dollar fee. *In response to the certain destruction of the Caribbean islands, the Cuban people rise up against the regime of Raul Castro's son. The new constitutional democracy established, Afrarnum, leads a genocide against the Mestizo population on the island. The UN sends a small peacekeeper force, but the messages of "Never Again" are forgotten as people still celebrated the end of Darfur genocide. *The invasion of the western provinces of China ends in destruction of the Chinese army as they walk into a trap. They are bombarded by drones that the FFF built in coalition with India, and a chemical bomb containing smallpox is released into the retreating army by de-commissioned crop sprayer planes. With no antibiotics, 80% of the Chinese army dies. *The UN places harsh sanctions on India for the use of biological warfare. The Indian prime minister Akasacamasa Janjua simply says to the assembly, "The new China, which the general of the FFF plans to call Hongguo, will be India's strongest ally." *The Shanghai Smallpox of '22-'23 begins. Millions of people on the eastern coast die, including Xi Jingping. *US healthcare spending is 19.9% of the GDP. *An influx of men who can not have sex due to spending much of their youth masturbating to internet porn causing an unspoken about, taboo, and media-censored but very real mental health crisis. Internet Porn Arousal Addiction is put in American mental health books and is estimated to affect 10-20% of 18-25 year old males. 2024 *The flood wall, know as the The Great Barrier Against Nature (TGBAN) is completed, but not before Hurricane Vladimir devastates Florida. *Pope Francis dies on the 15th of February, aged 87. Benedect XVII becomes the 267th Pope on March 30th. *The US Election comes down to a heated campaign between Republican former governor Nikki Haley and her running mate, Rand Paul, the Democratic candidate Martin O'Malley, his running mate Deval Patrick. and the Libertarian candidate Paige Stephenson and her running mate Aubrey Hutchens. Stephenson and Hutchens are the first female duo to earn more than 5 electoral votes, with wins in Aubrey's state of Michigan, Paige's home Ohio, and additionally Louisiana, Georgia, North and South Carolina, and Mississippi all went to the Libertarians, upsetting the balance of the Republican party and ultimately allowing O'Malley to win. The final count of the vote was ninety votes for the Libertarians, one hundred twenty-six for the Republicans, and three hundred twenty-two for the Democrats. The devastating loss for the right wing leads to talks of reform, but it appears America has become more progressive. *In some of last days of the Clinton administration, Carson Cleaver, a KKK member and violent member of the armed separationist militia The Great Revolution, tries to take Hilary's life while she parades through Washington celebrating 6 years of unemployment below 5%. Her husband Bill is shot in the throat and Hilary is wounded by shrapnel from a grenade he threw. Bill dies from wounds later that day at the age of 78. *In a swift trial, Carson Cleaver is sentenced to 500 years in a maximum security prison. *Printer grown organs gain wide acceptance. The number of diabetics in America is halved, the number of people on kidney dialysis is thirded, and the number of people in need of a heart transplant is reduced by 25%. *Thanks to efforts of the WHO, the Shanghai Smallpox epidemic ends. People label the Indian prime minister as a genocidal monster for trying to destroy the Chinese people. *Thailand expands the monarchs power in a vote (which was later revealed to be rigged). King Vajiralongkorn now has veto power for bills even if the prime minister signs if the bill "endangers Thailand's culture and freedom, or disrespects any aspect of the King's or Queen's opinions." This very loose definition allows the King to stop laws from being passed, and the King and Prime Minister clash in a series of political battle. 2025 *The US gets 25% of electricity from renewable sources. *King Vajiralongkorn is poisoned with the Ebola virus and dies. Bioterrorists from Laos are considered the killers, and fifteen suspects were put to death by the new Queen, Bajrakitiyabha, who expands her power to "put to death to any who disrespect the monarchy." *O'Malley is sworn in on January 20. He promises education reform, better infrastructure, and better lives for Americans. *In the first session of Congress, President O'Malley introduces the Worker's Act, which mandates at least 20 days of paid vacation time a year, raises minimum wage to $15.00 dollars an hour, created an inspection task force for large companies, stops workplace discrimination against gays, women, and all races. It passes in two weeks. *The Antarctic has 45% less ice than it did in 2000. *The FFF capture Beijing. In a horrible massacre, 2,500 communist officials are murdered in the Great Hall of the People, where the People's National Congress used to meet. Onlookers say that the 2,987 seats were "splattered with the blood of men who believed in what they did." Cheng Sieh, the commander of the FFF, is named temporary president. He signs a constitution that was drafted by 10,000 members of the FFF. Hongguo is the world's newest country. *In the year's climate summit, all of the North American countries pledge to follow "in the footsteps of Scandinavia" which got 100% of its energy from wind, solar, hydropower, and geothermal. President O'Malley is confident "America will be completely green by 2050." *Former President Obama's plan to have all cars' MPG to at least 28 by 2025 is a success, with the average MPG in America and Europe being above 45. *George H. W. Bush, America's president from 1988-1992, dies peacefully in his sleep at the age of 101. Conservatives around the world mourn and anguish over the loss of American Power as they remember how it was under H. W. Bush. The Great Republican Revival begins, and American and European culture begins to shift from left to right. *SXJ unveils their manned solar sail powered craft Thoth, first of the Space Clippers, high speed spaceships that dominate exploration under the Era of First Colonies. In a conference, SXJ also begins talks of terraforming robots, called Life Bringers, that would terraform Mars, beginning in 2050. Captain of Thoth, Suki Izimoto, says that he and his crew want to bring "revolution in the way we think." *At the year's climate summit in Oslo, President O'Malley says that North America "should follow in the footsteps of Scandinavia", a region which is 100% green. *Because of the gold, oil, and natural gas boom after the melting of all the Arctic ice, gold prices fall from record highs in April 2024 of $2,305 an ounce, to lows of $294 an ounce. The US goes into recession for two quarters because of the speculative bubble, but a quick recovery allows the US to grow 4.3% over the year. 2026 *In the court case Phillip Franklin vs. the State of Georgia, the Supreme Court rules that Designers are not human beings, and human rights laws do not apply to them if a state passes a law allowing discrimination. The Great Republican Revival has other victories in court over the course of the next decade. *The number of people in the US workforce falls from 155 million to to 95 million people even though the population rises to 350 million. Similar labor shortages in industrialized nations leads to a reversal of many people's anti-immigration stance. Large scale "robotization" of industries begins to replace the falling number of workers. The need for metal for robotic parts leads to a mining boom in western Africa. As the industrialization of nations, analysists realized, progresses, the birth rate falls. The 2.1 birthrate needed to sustain population in a country falls to as low as 1.3 in France and Italy, 1.4 in Japan and Germany, and just 1.9 in Britain, Scotland, Hongguo, and the USA. The massive growth in population speculated by many in the 21st century is in sharp contrast to the falling birthrates of even places like Nigeria, where it fell from 5.6 to 2.3 in 10 years. *SXJ launches Thoth in January. When it reaches Mars in May, Suki Izimoto becomes the first human being to step on another planet. Flags of all nations that contributed to the mission (about one hundred forty-two) are placed all over the first colony, which is named New Horizon. The twenty crew members on board Thoth build a subterranean base. The video of the Mars landing becomes the most watched video in the world, with 3,402,182 views on YouTube. *Immigrant recruiting programs are introduced in the USA, and People Scavengers travel beyond TGBAN to look for survivors after the tsunami. They find all of the Caribbean under water except for the capital of Afrarnum, where cannibalism and pillaging were at all time high. The US Army rescue 67,342 people from the horror. Many of the immigrants are put to work building new infrastructure to sustain America, such as vertical farms and solar farms. *In the 2026 midterm elections, the Democrats lose the Senate and the House. There are now 102 senators. The first time the US is labeled as a three party system by major media is after the Libertarian party gained 29 seats in the senate, leaving the Republicans 46 and the Democrats 27. The loss of prominence in government is blamed on O'Malley by many Democrats, with him and to a lesser extent former president Clinton being involved in the Afrarnum Scandal. The House elections have similar results. *Queen Elizabeth dies in The Royal Marsden NHS Trust of complications with sarcoma on April 27, just days after her 100th birthday. Prince Charles abdicates several days after he is placed on the throne, and Prince William is crowned King William V at the age of 44, and Kate is crowned Queen Katherine. *A designer is murdered in New York City by a mob inside the Holy Ghost Baptist Church. *In the Hongguo elections, Ceili Hisao, an engineer from Sichuan province, wins. She brings victory to her party, the leftist Ziangfu party. Promises in her acceptance speech include space innovation, better education, gender equality, and access to affordable health care. The Hongguo Meeting House takes many laws straight from the Americans and changes the name, including the 2009 Affordable Health Care Act (renamed the Sung-Hisao Care Act), the 2025 Worker's Act ( renamed The Worker's Bill of Rights), the 2020 Great American Railroad Act (renamed the Invigorated Hongguo Building Act), and the Great Society of the 1960's (renamed the Amazing Culture). Ceili Hisao locates the capital of Hongguo in Guangzhou. 2029 *In the 2028 election of last year Republican candidate Jackson Perry and his running mate Richard Parker win in a landslide as the GRR (Great Republican Revival) takes over. The electoral college is realigned for a victory if over 230 votes is achieved because of the new three party system. The Republicans win 250, Democrats 160 and the Libertarians 130. *The 121st Congress repeals several progressive laws, including the Designer Protection Act, the Glass-Steagall Act, and several high income taxes for the rich, from the 2027 high of 75%, down to 25%. They raised military spending also, and cut several pricey recruitment programs for immigrants. President Perry declassifies documents involving the Afrarnum Scandal, and even tries to repeal Obamacare. *Ceili Hisao allows East Turkmenistan to leave Hongguo. *Iran's government talks of a merger with Afghanistan so it can access discovered uranium deposits in the Northwest of the country. US president Perry says that Iran will not be allowed to expand, but he does nothing when the merger happens on September 27, and the country is renamed Persia. *The last of the UAE's oil deposits run out. The tourism building of the early 21st century pays off, and the government still makes around 90% of what it did when there was oil. *The last coal-fire plant in Europe, the Glasgow Coal Plant, closes. Environmentalists rejoice. America still receives 25% of its power from non-renewable resources. *The last defenses surrounding the capitol of Afrarnum break, and Hernando Gomez and ten thousand others who chose to stay die. 2030 *A world economic report comes out, published by the UN. The top fifteen economies, by gross national GDP, are *15. Canada $4 trillion *14. South Korea $4.3 trillion *13. Persia $4.5 trillion *12. Turkey $4.9 trillion *11. France $5.3 trillion *10. Great Britain $5.6 trillion *9. Muscovich $6.4 trillion *8. Mexico $6.6 trillion *7. Germany $8.2 trillion *6. Japan $8.3 trillion *5. Indonesia $9.5 trillion *4. Brazil $12.3 trillion *3. Hongguo $24.8 trillion *2. India $30.3 trillion *1. USA $34.3 trillion *The Antarctic has 60% less ice than it did in 2000. CO2 emissions are set to peak in 2040 and then slowly fall over the rest of the century. *The Second Cold War heats up as The USA supplies Poland with another military base, this one in Krakow. Poland does not quickly act when the Moscovichian-German Super Pipeline bursts near Lodz. Polish officials ask Muscovich to slowly cut off the supply until there is no more supply. In retaliation, Germany gets the French president Maurice Vernadaeu to sign the St. Petersburg Friendship Treaty. Another treaty is drafted on the American side, signed by the English, American, Polish, Australian, Indian, Israeli, and Hongguonian leaders. German officials get Turkey and Japan to sign the non-aggression pact/treaty. US president Perry says at a meeting in London, "The friendship between London, Washington, Warsaw, New Delhi, Jerusalem, Canberra, and Guangzhou is one of the strangest ever, but one of the most beneficial and one of the strongest." The Quintuple Alliance (as the signers of the St. Petersburg Treaty are called) have a similar meeting in Tokyo. *Persia had agents overthrown the semi-democracy set up in Iraq. Persia is now 65% bigger than it was in 2020. It refuses to join the Quintuple Alliance or the Western Bloc (media slang for the US treaty). *Ceili Hisao is reelected. In the first session of the Meeting House she passes a law limiting her term to twelve years, or three terms. *Killing Designers is now technically legal, because they are now considered "dangerous, with intent to harm" by many EU nations and the US and Canada. Over the year, around three hundred Designers are killed in the US and the first designer, Josiah, now just thirteen years old, goes to Hongguo on a diplomatic mission. He presents legislature to President Hisao that would allow him to design a special home for the Designers in the Himalayas. Indian Prime Minister Ajit Prabhakara agrees to the deal, and a settlement crossing both borders named শাশ্বত শান্তি, or Eternal Peace. In two years the extremely intelligent community of children build irrigation systems, a solar farm, a garden of GMO plants that survive the extreme cold, and created an avalanche warning system that is adopted around the world. The liberal community abolishes any kind of religion and every one has a job. 2031 *The EU begins to fall apart because of the Quintiple Alliance and The Western Bloc. Paris and London go back and forth with tariffs and quotas, vying for control of Switzerland and Belgium diplomatically. *The US goes into its first year-long recision since 2009 because of the small workforce and the terrible burden placed by the older generation on the new one. President Perry responds by lowering taxes, which to the dismay of the GRR, does not really work. *Some Republicans, dismayed with the GRR, left-shift to the Democratic party, which had some of its dissatisfied members right shift. In an era of cooperation almost unheard of, these new leaders of the old Republican party rename their party to the New Liberty Party, adopting orange as their official color. More progressive Democrats move away from their old party, some of them going to the Libertarians, but most try to cooperate with the Greens and the Socialists, which had small numbers in Senate and the House since the 2016 elections. They form the GSD, the Green Socialist Democrats. The remaining Republicans form a very small party called the Constitution Party. President Perry flip-flops in the middle of office to the Libertarian party, becoming the first president to do so. The Constitution Party represents the far right, The New Liberty represents the right, The Libertarians represent the centre, and the GSD represents the left. The GRR does not fall apart though, as predicted by many. *Persia begins diplomatic talks with Pakistan. In June, the two countries come to agreement. Persia claims rule over Pakistan and has access to Pakistani nuclear stockpiles, but Pakistan gets to remain a semi-independent province that collects its own taxes and uses their revenue first and then sending a quota to the Persian government. In addition, Pakistan's mostly Sunni majority are taxed at 2% more, sparking protests but not much bloodshed as entrance into the Caliphate has economic benefits for Pakistan, such as cheaper oil (which still remained at 2015 use levels) and protection from India and Hongguo. Persia's president, Parzaiz Javed, is renamed the Shah of Persia in a ceremony and is granted more powers, becoming one of the few nations to expand their monarch's power or establish a monarchy in the 21st century (the others being Lichtenstein in 2010, Monaco in 2019, and Thailand in 2024). The Persian Caliphate begins. *In response to India's aggression against them and the allowance of the Designer community inside India, The Persian Caliphate signs on to the Quintuple Alliance, though the name stays with six members. The Designer community also sparks religious uprising in India, resulting in the Great Fragmentation.The provinces of Himachal Pradesh, Jammu, and Kashmir join the Persian Caliphate. Punjab becomes the Sikh Republic (The nation eventually becomes a semi-autonomous province of the Persian Caliphate where millions of Sikhs lived, with no Muslim Tax). Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, and Maharashtra all become the Tamil state, which is centered at the old Kerala capital of Thiruvananthapuram. Most of central and western India falls into dissaray, and the armies of the Persian Caliphate invade, also taking over Bangladesh for "having terrorists cells located in Dhaka." In terror Tamil signs on to the Western bloc. US President Perry watches in horror as chemical weapons storage units in the backwater states of Goa and others are raided by the Persian Air Force. Shah Parzaiz, age thirty, is the youngest leader of a nation to have known chemical weapons. *The US begins mass producing the Army-designed SilverSoldiers, robotic soldiers tasked with going where human beings can't without endangering their lives. Workers make 50,000 for the US Armed Forces and make ten thousand for each Western Bloc country. The Persian Army seized the Tamil shipment and had captured Indian engineers and ten Designers offered as sex slaves by local priests to analyze and reverse engineer the robots, with they call Flaming Kobras, for mass production. Ten thousand are produced. 2032 * President Perry announces he will not run for reelection. In an unusually quiet election, the New Liberty candidate Micheal McMorgan is elected. He is forty years old, making him the youngest president ever elected. McMorgan is also the first Jewish president. He says he wants to "keep things running along smoothly." He also makes the GRR out to be a "quite extreme group in today's world." *Church membership is up 11% from 2015, mostly as a result of the shaming of atheism and other religions by the GRR. *Ceili Hisao is reelected for the final time in Hongguo. *The Bahai faith has 100 million followers, up from 15.7 million in 2015. Other fast growing religions include Sikhism, which grew from 34.3 million followers to 135 million followers. In America, however, though church membership is up, belief in a higher power is down. In 2013, 20% of Americans were unaffiliated with a religion. In 2034, this number is closer to 40%, even with church membership sky high. The Baha'i people begin to have more influence in America and Europe, trying to fight against the Western Bloc and the Quintuple Alliance, stating that the Earth should be united under one God. *The World gets 70% of its energy from renewable resources. Many cars in Africa and Southeast Asia run on sugarcane or yam oil, common ingredients. *The word developing nation loses its meaning. The 2013 average world Human Development Index of .694 (considered medium human development) rises to 0.887 (High human development). *A supplier mission to the Mars base ends in disaster when a piece of an old Soviet satellite hits the solar sailor, causing the crew members on Mars to begin to starve. Seven of them die, and the survivors must cannibalize the dead. SXJ launches a project called the Cosmic Leftover Eradication ArkNovas project, simplified as CLEAN. The first CLEAN rocket, designed to harvest satellite pieces, is estimated to launch in 2044. 2033 *The Persian Caliphate decides to destroy to "heinous, Allah-hating" community of Eternal Peace. The Peacekeeper of Eternal Peace, Josiah, arms the five thousand of his fifteen thousand person community town which are sixteen and over with light deflectors. These make the person technically invisible. The inventors in the community also build a machine to disturb the magnetic field, causing intense bouts of sickness and sometimes death, and engineering Nightprowler Wolves that have the intelligence of a teen aged human being. Hongguo, which is partially inside Eternal Peace, gives the Designers portions of the SilverSoldiers shipment. In the first part of the siege, where ten thousand Persian men and three hundred Flaming Kobras go to the front line, a disruption in the magnetic field cause many Persian weapons to go off suddenly, causing confusion, and NightProwler wolves are released on the men along with rockets with ricin-lates dart inside. 8,917 of the troops die. Shah Parzaiz leaves a small force to remain and spy on the Designers, and goes to conquer rebels in the west of the Caliphate. *Shah Parzaiz and his force capture Jordan and Kuwait in two weeks. They begin to choke up the Sunni majority Saudi Arabia, blocking shipments from the Strait of Hormuz and encouraging piracy in the Red Sea. This raises the price of oil, which is still used by many eastern African tribes to run generators and cars. The Saudi king signs on to the Western Bloc. Many Shia Muslims and Baha'is flee to Persia, and other protest in the streets. In response, Muscovich and the Persian Caliphate launch a joint campaign to conquer the Caucasus. All of the region's countries are taken over, with Muscovich taking Georgia and northern Armenia and the Caliphate taking the rest. *In a lightning fast campaign, Turkey takes Syria, Lebanon, and Cyprus, becoming the Turkish Empire. In a series of talks between Shah Parzaiz and newly crowned Emperor of Turkey Toygar Ced decides to invade Israel in 2040 and split the nation, knowing they will start a world war. *In the US, several laws are considered to restart the economy. President McMorgan allows Congress to do most of the work while relaxing in England. His widely popular rule is in sharp decline, with approval ratings in Congress higher than the president for the first time in several decades. *The GRR is beginning "to fail miserably" as Supreme Court justice Elena Kagan says after the court rules Euthanasia is not murder, and allows the practice to be legalized in the United States, along with making discrimination against Designers illegal again, banning creationism taught in public schools, and making it easier to classify right-wing christian denominations as cults. This radical liberalization over the course of two weeks of court cases is mostly attributed to President McMorgan electing three GSD-leaning justices after three died in a plane crash over Washington D.C. 2034 *A supplier vehicle reaches Mars just as the ship's engineer George Renda slips into septic shock. He is revived. SXJ decides to begin terraforming immediately, launching a massive ship with frozen oxygen stores to release into the atmosphere. *Canada and Moscovich begin the first of a series of GMO-disputes between countries, as Canadian genetic firms such as Montreal Manipulations Clinc released artificial "spruce trees" in Muscovichian national forests in the early 2020's to combat the declining boreal ecosystem. These trees caused soil erosion and destroyed much of Muscovich's agricultural production in high altitudes, almost bankrupting wheat paddy growing company Hafastai. *The Antarctic convinienent has 80% less ice than it did in 2000, and sea levels are one-two feet higher than they were in 2013. The number of climate refugees around the world is estimated at eight hundred million, causing the US to enact the Climate Refugee Act, a bill allowing a maximum of one hundred million people into the US over the next three years, and infrastructure to support the new citizens begin, as well as funding for US education programs. *The Colorado River dispute between Mexico and the US worsens as Mexico's economy is fully developed and its citizens begin having the assets to live a North American lifestyle. Many southwestern states ban extensive grass irrigation. *The US and the bickering nations of Europe throw much of their weight behind a G77 plan to implement solar geoengineering before the carbon emissions peak in 2040 (later determined to be 2045 because of the under reporting of African diesel use). A fleet of planes called the Deflectors spray particles into the atmosphere to block solar radiation. The GSD and similar political parties in Europe oppose it but it passes in the first law to be adopted by America and most European nations at the same time. Sulfate spraying plane bases were located mostly in the decimated Amazon National Forest and the Sahara desert. Though expensive, boosts in agricultural production lowered food costs as a deflective haze surrounded the Earth, stopping the ozone layer from being ripped apart again. *Hongguo President Ceili Hisao wins her final term in a landslide victory. 2035 *SXJ launches a moon colony called the Eastburg Lunar Base. ''Many conspiracy theorists believe the base was a publicity stunt to get the public's mind off the starvation of the Mars base. *Helium-3 mining begins on the moon. The clean-burning fuel source is adopted by many manufacturing companies as fuel for the giant 3-D printers that account for the making of 45-60% of products. *After various sex and abuse scandals, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is classified as a cult, and several violent raids on compounds in Utah and Arizona lead to the deaths of twenty-four people. *Tensions between the US and Mexico rise, leading California, a water-starved state with 10% unemployment, to build four desalination plants along the coast. These are powered by Helium-3 shipments from the moon but the cost of construction bankrupts the state. *North America is 85% green. Several southern states in Mexico drag the average down with high uses of oil and nuclear fission, leading several journalists to journey down and film ''The Dirtiest Place in North America. The shocking nature of the film footage "shows a shift in America's opinion on things," former BP executive Tony Fornwell says. He is one of the hundreds of Bankrupt Barons, former CEOs of oil companies now bankrupt, holding little of the political power they used to have. Tony Fornwell is reported to have said "God is miss the Bush era, when a man would murder for an oil supply." *The last widely circulated print newspaper is shutdown, ending the era of big print news. * Countries by GDP Per Capita Income (2035 CIA Factbook Report) *10. Netherlands $67,203 *9. USA $73,938 *8. Australia $74,584 *7. Switzerland $83, 203 *6. UAE $87,293 *5. Singapore $90,497 *4. Monaco $117,048 *3. Lichtenstein $123,646 *2. Macau $135, 574 *1. Qatar $173,328 2036 *In January, President McMorgan announces that he will not run for re-election, unsurprisingly. He is widely considered one of the worst presidents in America's forty-nine man cannon. Victor Hyche, a very staunch New Libertist, wins narrowly. He uses executive order to build the controversial kill towers, automated railguns mounted on guard towers located on the US-Mexico border to stop the influx of Mexican illegals. The Mexican president says he will no longer negotiate "with such an evil and harsh country." *Riots in California continue, as drugs pour in from the Baja region of Mexico. The Baja state is experiencing an insurrection against the Mexican government, and Juan Martinez, a regional drug lord, seizes control of the "Baja Cocaine State" from the governor, who is killed in February 22th riots. Martinez becomes de facto ruler of the BCS until the Mexican government retakes it in 2054. In California, severe water shortages lead to more drug abusers, and several gangs set up chains of distribution without much backlash from the Californian governor, as he is paid by the smugglers. *On June 15th, pop sensation Madonna dies in her Hollywood home from advanced sarcoma. She was eighty-six. 2037 * Hilary Clinton dies peacefully in her sleep at the age of ninety. *A large tunnel dug under the Kill Towers collapses, killing 660 illegals trying to escape the water riots in Mexico. President Hyche does not speak about the incident. *Saudi Arabia's elite oligarchy tries to escape their blockaded country via airships the President Hyche of the US sent in, but Persia shoots them down. The ship crashes into the Suez Canal, and all passengers escape, but the incident is not forgotten by President Hyche, he secretly meets with the leaders of Brazil, Argentina, Peru, and Bolivia, who all agree to sign onto the Western Bloc on August 15. *The US economy grows at 6% as wartime manufacturing starts ramping up. *Persia installs a puppet ruler in Saudi Arabia. The new ruler makes false threats to Persia, allowing Persia to excuse military action and take over the country. *President Hyche repeals the Climate Refugee Act right before the final year of the program was scheduled to begin. He decreases benefits for the sixty four million immigrants who had came to America in the previous two years, and incentivized many to go work on desalination plants on the Pacific coast to relieve California of a tight water supply. 2038 *Persia shoots down 65 Deflectors that were spraying sulfate over Persia's western provinces. The US threatens covert military action if Persia does not stop expanding militarily. *Sha'an Li, a Hongguo general, wins the elections. Fraud is suspected, as the voter turnout is reported at 85%. Voter turnout in the 2034 election was 43%. Sha'an Li is quickly detested by the people because of his extravagant victory party aboard the SXJ Atlas, where over US $345 million was spent. *Ambient trance music, a sensation among the young and wealthy kids in Asia and North America, causes controversy after apparently causing violent seizures at a party in Arizona, leading to the death of four teenagers. *President Hyche closes the United Nations headquarters in New York after tensions between the Western Bloc and the Quintuple Alliance rise. General Secretary of the UN Katherine Eriksson makes no statement on the rising tensions and returns to her home of Sweden. 2039 *Gene therapy for cystic fibrosis becomes available in the United States. One US $15,000 treatment will cure the disorder. *Tablet implants become mildly popular in the United States. A smartphone or tablet is surgically implanted into the forearm or palm and connected to the nervous system, allowing for continually use. The tablet is powered by harvesting energy from the body's biochemical processes. *After many long years of lobbying and delay from other issues, whaling in Japan is completely ended. *George W. Bush suddenly dies of a heart attack at the age of ninety-three. The Great Republican Revival is extended for another six months as people long for the 1990's and early 2000's. 2040 *A world economic report comes out, published by the UN. The top fifteen economies by GDP are: *15. Catalonia $11 trillion *14. Korea $15 trillion *13. Persia $15.3 trillion *12. Turkey $16.5 trillion *11. Canada $17.9 trillion *10. France $18.3 trillion *9. Great Britain $18.6 trillion *8. Muscovich $19.4 trillion *7. Mexico $20.6 trillion *6. Germany $21.2 trillion *5. Japan $21.3 trillion *4. Indonesia $22.5 trillion *3. Brazil $30.3 trillion *2. Hongguo $44.8 trillion *1. USA $50.3 trillion *Emperor Toygar Ced of Turkey and Shah Parzaiz of Persia launch an attack on Israel, but Israel's missile defence shield, the most advanced in the world, intercepts the missiles and changes their targets to Istanbul and Tehran, an unseen feat of military technology. World War Three begins. Israel tells the Western Bloc not to retaliate on the Quintuple Allance, as the destruction would be too great. Israel drops an electromagnetic pulse bomb over Persia, cutting off all communications and destroying their power grid. On the Northern Front, Moscovich and Germany invade Poland, but Poland is prepared. Genetically engineered killer wolves roam the countryside, along with sentient machine guns mounted on remote-controlled cars. Mines and mustard gas traps are everywhere on the border with Moscovich and the border with Germany. Large walls with Kill Towers protect Inner Poland, where all the population was moved in 2038. The two land strips on each side of Inner Poland are known as the Deathlands, where thousands of Moscovichian and German troops died in the first invasion. Moscovich launches an air attack on Poland. The only Alliance attack that is successful is the French-German attack on England, who was relatively unprepared and tried to negotiate until the beginning of the war, much like in World War Two, which had began 101 years ago. Southern England is destroyed by marauding German troops, angry at their loss in Poland, leading to many breaches in international law. *Queen Bajrakitiyabha of Thailand, eager to expand her power to become an absolute monarch, signs on to The Quintuple Alliance and abolishes the parliament. Hongguo responses with the Bombing of Bangkok, a deadly assault in March that burned a quarter of the city. Category:Scenario Category:A Strange Century